


Know when to walk away

by Twinklestar



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Canon-level, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, chilling at Bobby's, i guess??, set around s6-ish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2020-06-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:55:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24648325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Twinklestar/pseuds/Twinklestar
Summary: Sam and Dean take a breather at Bobby's.
Relationships: Bobby Singer & Dean Winchester & Sam Winchester
Kudos: 13





	Know when to walk away

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this around six years ago, and it's kind of a mess but I'm posting it anyway because ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ and I don't actually remember why I didn't post it years ago.

There’s a picture on the mantle. Sam has no idea where Bobby got a picture of them since Sam doesn’t remember very many pictures being taken. They’re in the salvage yard out front. John’s not with them.

Sam doesn’t remember it being taken, but he looks about eight in the picture and that’s fair enough. There isn’t much he remembers from before the age of around twelve anyway, like most people, he thinks. Except Dean, probably. Dean’s always had a ridiculously good memory. 

Dean’s pretty serious in the picture, especially for a twelve year old. Sam wonders if he remembers when it was taken; if he remembers why. Sam doesn’t know why they were with Bobby at all: they never stayed with Bobby that often when they were kids, not without John there, too. Thinking about it, Sam doesn’t really know why. He knows they both loved it at Bobby’s. 

Dean’s out with the Impala, and Bobby’s probably with him. Sam has three texts in front of him that he’s supposed to be going through. He puts the picture out of his mind.

There was some trouble in the motel they were staying in when Dean was twelve. Not supernatural trouble, just the normal kind of trouble you get when you leave two kids alone in a run-down place like that. Dean doesn’t think Sammy remembers just how crappy most of the places they stayed as kids were. When they were really young, before Dean was old enough to watch his brother, they normally rented an apartment or a house and John only took short jobs, ones that wouldn’t keep him away for more than a few hours. Most research could be done at home, especially if Dean was able to keep Sammy out of the kitchen and away from John’s books. He’d gotten such a hiding when Sammy decided Dad’s journal made the perfect colouring book.

“Beer, son?” Bobby asks, holding out a cold one. Dean grabs it with a nod of thanks, and takes a long swallow. He’s wrecked, but the Impala is once more cherry and there’s something softly playing on the radio. Country, probably. The radio can’t pick up much else, and for once Dean isn’t bothered enough to put on a tape. He sits on a block and Bobby moves beside him, looking straight ahead.

“She’s looking good,” he says, not expecting Dean to reply. Which is for the best, because what can Dean reply to that, other than a nod. The beer goes down too easy, but the company’s good and Dean thinks that this is the closest thing to peace he ever gets.

Sometimes, when he’d woken up from a nightmare, Dean wished that his dad was more like Bobby. Even in his thoughts, he didn’t dare wish that his father was Bobby. 

Sammy was a whiny baby. Maybe the fire affected his health, but he was a pretty colicky baby. Dean remembers that it took his dad three weeks to notice that he’d stopped talking, Sammy was so loud.

John didn’t notice that Dean stopped talking after Sam left for college. Dean only started talking again after he’d finished his first solo hunt. A straightforward salt and burn, but he’d done it alone. John had gone off again on his own. It was the first time Dean had been actually on his own in his life. He doesn’t think John ever thought about that. 

After he finished the hunt, he realised that he could’ve done anything. Sam was...gone, and Dad was off as usual, and this time there was no one depending on him for anything. He could’ve gone back to school, or gotten a real job or anything, really. Finishing the hunt made him realise that he’d never had to do it in the first place. 

It didn’t matter, though. Dean never really learned how to do anything else.


End file.
